Not Really Family
by midnight-tessa
Summary: What if Yuki and Kyo hadn't brought Tohru back from her family when they did? What if Yuki saw something he shouldn't have? What if Hatori took away Tohru's memories? What if Akito never lost his interest in Tohru? Very disturbing scenes, so be warned.
1. Interrupting the Moment

"Come on... it's not like we're _really_ family," he said, advancing on her. "We've seen each other what--? Once a year for the past 15 years? You are barely an acquaintance let alone family!"

"But, ah... uh..." She managed to say, backing up.

"It isn't going to hurt... Well, yeah, it probably will, but-" he said laughing, and once again closing the distance between the two.

Still, she backed up, but only found the walls behind her drawing nearer. She had nowhere to go.

"Just keep quiet, and it'll be over in no time." He grabbed her and forced up to the wall. He could feel her trying to pull away, but there was nowhere to go even if she did get away. This was her home now. She was merely a child in his eyes - clearly someone unable to make it on her own. Little did he know.

But make an escape was not something she could do. Not yet anyway. She whimpered as he led her out of the room and down the hall. Looking quite possibly like her best opportunity, she made one last effort to escape his grasp. She managed to pull away and make a run for it.

She didn't get far and ended up in a worse position than she was previously in. He had caught up to her from behind and with one hand he was squeezing the life out of her with a strong grip around her neck. The other hand found itself searching around under her skirt.

Then they heard the closing sound of the front door. Hadn't he locked that? He was sure he had. Either way, he knew he had to go deal with the problem before anything bad happened. He couldn't let a story like this get out. Not if he wanted that job at the police department.

"Say a word and I'll kill you," he hissed, spinning her around to face him. "No, better yet, say a word and I'll kill you both!" He hastily kissed her, and threw her away.

"I could have you arrested for trespassing!" He called out to the intruder.

"I'm looking for Honda-san... the door was open, so..."

"Well, she's not here, so get out!"

He probably would have left, had it not been for the faint sound of coughing coming from another room. He looked in the direction of the sound and then back to the man before him, deciding to see for himself if that was indeed his Honda Tohru.

He sped past the man, down a hall and then into the room where the coughing (now louder) could be heard. The sight before him would nearly break his heart.

"Honda-san!" He called out to the girl on the floor who was still coughing and holding her neck. It was plain to see that she was crying, but at the sound of his voice, she looked up.

"Sohma-kun!" She gasped as she saw her older cousin smash a large vase over the younger man's head.

He fell to the ground, unconscious, shards of crystal raining down around him. She ran over to him, cutting the bottoms of her feet as she stepped across the glass. She also had a fair size piece of the stuff piercing her just below the knee, where she knelt beside her friend.

Her cousin just looked upon the two and chuckled. "Now I warned you about this. He could die, and it would be your fault." He reached down and picked out a long piece of glass from the pile. The side that he held onto used to be the smooth rim from the top of the vase - the other side looked as sharp as a knife.

"Get up!" He demanded, pulling her up by the collar of her shirt. "I believe you and I have something to finish." He threatened her with the piece of glass and she stood the rest of the way up.

"Come on!" He said, this time dragging her along, rather than leading as he had before.

The pain in her leg had become almost unbearable. It gave out and she fell towards the ground, half held up by the man still clutching her arm.

He looked down at her realizing that the blood which had now covered much of her leg, was leaving stains along the floor behind them. "You know _none_ of this would have happened if you just did as I said."

"And right now," he continued, "I'm going to need a way out of this. So far, the only options I can think of involve killing you both." He grabbed her leg, pushing the glass in farther.

She screamed out in pain. The tears again spilling down her face.

"See, what happened here..." he spoke in an almost storytelling way, "when I got home, I found this intruder _assaulting_ you, so after a long and hard-fought battle, I _finally_ over-threw him, but by then it was too late. He'd already killed my dear, _darling_ little cousin. In a fit of rage, I hit him, and he fell down the stairs and broke his neck."

She sat there, crying, unable to move, to speak, or even think.

"Now, of course, if you think something is missing from that story, I'd be happy to add it in for you."

"You are missing the most important part," Yuki said, shocking the older man.

"And what would that be?" Tohru's cousin asked rudely.

"The part where we fight and you lose."

The older man just laughed. This _boy_ didn't look much older than Tohru, and he'd still be weak from the blow to the head he'd received just minutes ago. Plus, he hadn't gone through the hand-to-hand training that the department had supplied for him.

The two advanced on one another, and the older man got in the first blow. It was Yuki, however, that sent the man flying through the air and into a wall with a single kick to the head.

Yuki rushed over to Tohru's side. "Are you okay? I'm going to go call the police and an ambulance for you. You really need those cuts looked at."

"No... no... I'm fine. But, your head... let me take a look at it." She tried to stand up, but the pain washed over her once more, and kept her on the ground.

"You're not okay, I'm calling an ambulance."

"Yuki?!" She called out confused and afraid. "I can't... see you..." He was standing right in front of her, but she passed out thinking she was all alone.

Yuki frantically searched the rooms for a phone. After finding one in the kitchen, he dialed out to an ambulance, but was told the wait would likely be about an hour.

"An hour! She could die!"

"Well, we are understaffed and overworked tonight, Sir, we will be there as soon as we can."

Dejected, he thanks the operator and quickly hung up the phone determined to get her the help she needs. He redialed out, this time to his cousin Hatori. He was scared though, that if he did come, he would see it as a chance to erase her memories of the Sohma family.

He briefly wondered what would be so bad about that. She'd be better off not having to live a cursed life with the rest of the Sohmas. Though things seemed to be going fine for the moment, he knew sooner or later, a time would come when she'd be better off without them.

What was he thinking? The full impact of his realization hit him like a tonne of bricks. She wasn't better off without him. Without him she had ended up in this house with her family, and look what had happened. Surely whatever life he could offer her had to be better than the one she would face staying with a family capable of such things.

His thoughts were cut short when Hatori answered the phone on the other end. "Yes?"

"Hatori... I need your help. Honda-san... she's been hurt."

"What? Where are you? I thought she went back to her family."

"She did, and I'm there. At her house."

"You shouldn't have gone back to her. Let her family deal with it. She's not your responsibility anymore." With that, Hatori hung up.

What?! Frustrated, Yuki dialed out again; Hatori once more picking up the phone.

"What is it?"

"I can't leave her to her family!" Yuki cried into the phone. "They're the ones that did this to her!"

"Then leave her to the police."

"Hatori, she could die!"

"Then call an ambulance."

"I did, they can't get here for another hour. Please, Hatori..."

The doctor knew she was an accident waiting to happen to the Sohma family, this could be the perfect way to get her out of the family once and for all. Even if he did save her - he couldn't just let the girl die - he could use this chance to erase the girl's memory, so that when she woke up, things would be back to normal.

"Fine, I'll be there. What's the address?"

Yuki told him the address and the two ended the conversation. A bit relieved, but still very worried, he went back to Tohru. He wrapped the worst of the wounds and kept her leg elevated to slow the bleeding, but she'd already lost a lot of blood.

He then took the chance to look at himself in a mirror. He had clearly fared better than Tohru – at least he had been wearing his shoes, since he had just arrived at the home, so he hadn't cut his feet on the glass. Mind you, he did have quite a nasty bump on the head from being struck with the vase, a growing bruise on the side of his face and most likely some degree of a concussion.


	2. Someone Needs to be Responsible

Hatori arrived at the scene to find his younger cousin cradling Tohru's head in his lap. He could see the crude effort he put into wrapping the wounds, but with them covered, he was unable to see the real damage. Thankfully, other than the massive bloodloss, she seemed otherwise unharmed.

Yuki on the other hand he noted, had a deep bruise starting to set in on the side of his face and some blood coming from an open wound on his head.

"Are you okay?" Hatori asked the younger man.

"I'm fine, just help Tohru," Yuki replied, his voice sounding somewhat desperate.

Carefully undressing the wound on her leg, Hatori asked what happened. He could see another man lying in a crumpled heap on the floor, but didn't know the extent of his injuries. He quickly re-wrapped the bandages around her leg, and walked toward the other man.

"I kicked him in the head," Yuki said matter of factly. "He's been down ever since."

"What the hell were you thinking?" Hatori demanded.

"He was hurting Tohru."

"That doesn't make this okay."

"She isn't a Sohma, she doesn't have to live like one!" Yuki was thinking about the beatings he had faced at the hands of his own family head, Akito. "Why did I ever let her go back?"

"You didn't know this would happen."

"I should have known!" Yuki blurted out, getting more angry by the minute.

"How? You aren't her protector!"

"Then who is? Her family? The police? I don't see anyone who cares." Yuki paused a moment to think. "She spends her life helping others, and no one cares enough to show her the same courtesy, when she's the one that really needs the help."

"She's not your responsibility." Hatori had moved on, and was now examining the wound on Yuki's head. "You're going to need some stitches. But first get some ice."

Yuki nodded and left the room in the direction of the kitchen. While he was walking back, he could see a bright flash coming down the hallway. Yuki's eyes went wide at the realization that Hatori had just stolen the memories of the girl that meant so much to him.

He dropped the ice, and ran back to where still Tohru laid on the floor, with Hatori's hand still resting on her forehead.

"You bastard! How could you?!" Yuki threw himself at the older man.

Fully expecting this, Hatori reached out and grabbed Yuki's arms and forced him to stop his attack. Yuki was strong, but Hatori was older and much more experienced in the martial arts.

"She'll be fine. Wait for the ambulance and get some stitches." The doctor pushed his younger cousin aside and left the home.

Wide-eyed, and left in disbelief, Yuki wasn't sure what to do, so he just went back to holding the frail Tohru in his arms and waited.

After what seemed like an eternity, Yuki heard the sound of sirens drawing nearer. Hatori had left the front door to the place wide open, so the emergency workers just walked right in and quickly assessed the scene.

Seeing that Yuki was the only conscious one around, they asked him for the details.

"I came to see Tohru, and her cousin was hurting her. We fought and, she needs help."

By this point, one of the paramedics was working on Tohru, while the other was trying to revive her cousin.

Finally, they had strapped Tohru to a stretcher and was wheeling her out of the home. They explained to Yuki that she had lost lots of blood, and that she'd need to get to the hospital right away.

They also explained that they could only transport one victim in the ambulance, and since Tohru was the worst off, that she'd would be the one to go. They informed Yuki that he should wait around until the police arrive and explain to them what happened.

By the time that the police had arrived, Tohru's cousin had awakened and had finished threatening Yuki with a whole range of things should he tell anyone what really happened.

Yuki wasn't too concerned over the threats directed at him, he could take care of himself, but he vowed that no matter what, he'd never let anything happen to Tohru again. The cousin could see this, so he quickly changed his tactic. He threatened her life should he tell.

Unsure of what to do when the police arrived, he decided it would be better to leave. He wasn't sure if they'd even believe him, seeing as it would be his word verses the word of a family member. Plus, since Hatori erased the memory of the Sohmas from her mind, the memories from today would also have been taken, seeing as Yuki was now a part of them. Things just couldn't have gotten much worse.

The cousin, however, was already formulating a plan by the time the police were questioning him. He certainly wasn't taking the quiet approach with the authorities. He weaved quite the lie that turned him into another one of the victims.

He spoke of how he and his younger cousin were in the living room, and how he heard someone walking through the house. He was sure he'd locked the doors, so he got up to check it out, when he noticed the strange man in the house.

He demanded that the other man leave and when he refused, he fought him. He told them how in the back of his mind he'd wondered why he'd broken in, all the while worrying about his little cousin. He then explained that despite the other man being much younger, he was far stronger and didn't seem to be phased when he struck him over the head with a vase.

Then, almost as if on cue, the cousin broke from the story and started frantically looking for his cousin. "Tohru... where is she?! Is she okay?"

The police explained that she'd been taken to the hospital in an ambulance and that she'd lost a lot of blood. They offered him a ride, which he graciously accepted.

Before they left, the police asked for a description of the _intruder_ and put out an APB on the suspect. They were hoping he was still in the area and would be quickly caught before he could do this again to another family.


	3. Is it True? She Can't Remember?

On the way to the hospital, the cousin realized just how dire his situation might be. If his cousin were to wake up and tell what he did, he'd never have his career in the police, nor anything else of that nature. In fact, he'd probably be the one that would end up behind bars.

He'd have to put a stop to that, and he thought of just the way to do it. So long as she didn't wake up before he got there and spoil his plan, that is. It all rested on her not waking up. That essentially was the basis of the plan.

He nearly had a heart attack when he heard that his cousin was awake and talking upon arriving at the hospital. He quickly recovered, and just told everyone he was so happy that she was coming to so quickly and that he'd been worried by what the police had told him.

They took him up to the room, but before they let him see her, they took him aside and told him that there was something he needed to know.

"She can't seem to remember anything about what happened to her, or anything else for that matter, so we haven't told her, because we don't want to startle her while she is still recovering. We've told her that we are going to do everything that we can to bring back those memories, but she knows that there's always a chance that they won't return," the nurse informed the cousin. "Is there anyone that you'd like us to call for you? Her parents?"

Inside he was the happiest man alive, outside, he showed nothing but concern for his cousin. This was perfect, he'd gotten away with everything. If she can't remember what happened, she could never tell anyone about it.

"Her parents," he said sadly, "are both dead, but we've taken her in. Could you call my parents - her aunt and uncle?"

"Sure thing, dear," the nurse replied. "You can go in and see her, just don't say anything that might upset her. She's still pretty weak."

"Okay, thank you for everything," he said turning and walking through the door.

He entered the room wanting to see things for himself. Could things have really worked out that perfectly? He needed to see it in her eyes – the reaction that she would give when she saw him. That would prove it to him once and for all.

"Tohru-chan?" He asked quietly as he walked into the room.

She looked up, a big smile on her face.

He wondered what she was waiting for, and searched her eyes for anything other than her apparent happiness at having a guest. He saw some pain and some fatigue, but no sign of fear. A smirk crossed the man's features which he quickly turned into a genuine looking smile.

"Tohru-chan," he said again, still waiting for a response.

"Yes?" she quietly asked.

"How are you doing?"

"The doctors all tell me that I'm going to be fine. A little tired and confused at first, but fine."

"Oh good. You had me so worried today," he told her, which wasn't a lie exactly, it just wasn't her welfare that had the cousin worried.

"What happened to me?" She asked, motioning to the various bandages she could see. Then her eyes grew wide, startling the man before she continued. "What happened to you? You're hurt too! Are you okay? Do you want me to call for a nurse?"

"No, no. I'm fine don't worry about me," he said, putting his hands in front of him for added effect. "Just relax you don't need to worry about me. Just focus on getting yourself better, so we can get you back home."

She seemed to ease up once she'd heard that he was okay.

"You should get some rest. I'll be back to check on your later, okay?" her cousin said smiling.

Trusting the only non-medical person she new for the time being, she nodded, thanked the man and then closed her eyes, drifting into a much-needed slumber.

Her cousin left the room and let out a sigh of relief. Things couldn't be much better than they were at this very moment. He didn't know how a person could lose their memory from such injuries, but he wasn't about to complain either.


	4. I Could Have Protected Her

Yuki eventually found his way back to the main house. He didn't really have a plan for what he wanted to do to Hatori for taking his Honda-san away from him, but he thought once he saw the man face to face again, the ideas would start to flow into his mind and he'd be able to easily take it from there.

He knocked on the his older cousin's door. Once he saw the man in question standing there, he gave him the glare of a life time, but was too upset to act upon his anger. The thoughts hadn't come to him like he figured they would have. The only thoughts he was able to string together were of Tohru and the times that they'd spent together.

Quickly he looked away from the doctor, as he felt tears coming to his eyes.

"Why haven't you seen a doctor?" Hatori asked him.

"Uh.. what?" Yuki stammered out.

"You really are out of it, aren't you? Come in, I'll stitch you up myself."

Sighing, the rat walked into the office and let out a quiet thanks.

"Just sit down. I want you to hear me out," Hatori said, while he gathered the things he would need to clean the wounds and fix him up. "You may not see it now, but she's better off. We're better off."

"How can you say that? There's no way she'll be safe with her family, and she has nowhere else to go. She won't even know she's not safe, because you wiped the memory of today away because it had a Sohma in it. That man hurt her, and is going to get away with it. He could do it again."

"Well, if he does, then she'll remember it next time. Then she can go and get help."

"How does a person get help when they are dead? She could have died today at the hands of her own family. Don't you see that?" Yuki winced at the pain where Hatori was sterilizing the wound on his head.

"It's terrible, yes, but she has a better chance surviving with people that care about her, then living under the Sohma's curse. You know it was a matter of time until Akito got bored of the situation and went after her too."

"I could have protected her from him," Yuki told him.

"Like you were able to protect yourself?"

Yuki just sat there deflated. He knew his cousin was right about that anyway. He wasn't able to protect himself from the wrath of Akito, so it wasn't likely that he'd be able to offer anything better when it came to Honda-san.

"I wasn't going to tell you this, but Akito was already starting to take an interest in our young Tohru. I had put off their meeting for a while, on doctor's orders, but I couldn't have put it off all that much longer."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you. I was just waiting for the right time to put an end to this whole thing, so that everyone could move on. When one presented itself today, I couldn't let the opportunity slip past." Hatori continued to sew up his younger cousin's wounds as he warned him in a serious tone, "I don't want you making friends with her again. Speak to her if you have to at school, but no more than that. Understood?"

Taking the warning about Akito to heart, he agreed that at least for now, it was probably best that he keep his distance from the girl. If he was still showing an interest, then the head of the Sohma's would more than likely keep his interest for the girl as well. After things cooled down a bit, he'd find a way to get her out of her home and somewhere more safe.

"Can you at least do one thing for me, Hatori?" Yuki asked him, in an almost pleading manner.

"What is that?"

"Go to the hospital and check up on Honda-san. I need to know that she's going to be okay."

"Only if you agree to stay away from her."

"Okay," the rat said nodding.

"You lie down here for a bit, you look exhausted," the doctor told his cousin. "I'll go and check on her, and let you know how she's doing when I get back."

"Thank you," Yuki said sincerely, as he watched the man walk out the door. He closed his eyes to rest, but didn't think that he'd be having any peaceful slumbers in the near future, considering the kind of day it had been.


	5. Cuts, Bruises and Complete Amnesia?

As promised, Hatori went to the hospital that Tohru had been taken to. He knew the place well, seeing as another Sohma, Momiji's father, was in charge of the place. He didn't like working this close to this many people, because of his 'condition', but he'd been in here many a time before, whether it be to restock his medical supplies, or if a family member was too sick to care for at the family estate.

Many of the staff even said hello as they saw him, recognizing who it was right away. Once he made his way to the information desk in the center of the floor, he inquired about Tohru's location.

"Earlier today, a teenage girl was brought in. Her name is Honda Tohru. Where might I find her?"

The attendant looked at him cheerfully, knowing where the girl was without having to look it up. "Oh Tohru-chan... It's a shame about what happened to her. Losing her memories like that. No one's been able to figure out just what caused it. She's at the end of the hall, last room on your right."

"Thank you," Hatori said, just now remembering that Tohru worked at this hospital part time. 'No wonder the attending would know where she was staying.' It all made sense.

He made his way down the hall to the room where he'd been told she would be. Sure enough, once he got there, he saw the name on the door to be hers. She was fast asleep in her bed, but looked as if she was doing fine. The colour had returned to her face, and her bandages seemed to be doing the trick.

Hatori grabbed her chart that was in lying in the slot at the end of her bed. 'Deep cuts, some bruising...' all appeared normal. 'Complete amnesia...?' Complete? What was that supposed to mean? Complete amnesia about what brought her here? He was sure that's what someone must have meant. Granted there would be a great deal missing from the past little while, but only memories where the Sohmas were concerned.

Another nurse walked in at that time, to check on the girl's condition. Before she made it too far into the room, she noticed the other doctor standing there. This was one of the staff member's he hadn't been introduced to.

He took that chance, extending his hand out to the woman. "Hi, I'm Sohma Hatori. How do you do?" He figured adding the 'Sohma' in there would go a long way in this hospital. It couldn't hurt anyhow.

"I'm fine thanks, and yourself?" She asked politely.

"Not too bad."

"Oh... where are my manners? I'm Yamasaki Hideko. Pleased to meet you. Are you this girl's family doctor?"

"Yea, something like that. She's rather close to some of my cousins so I told them I'd stop by and see how she was doing."

"She's doing a lot better, but her memories still haven't returned to her," the nurse informed him.

"I read her chart, it mentioned 'complete amnesia'..." the doctor let his sentence trail off, hoping the nurse would pick up where he left off.

"It's strange, we found no sign of a head injury, yet she came in here with no idea as to who she was, or what had happened to her. A blank slate, though she's been really good about it."

"Blank slate?"

"Yea... and though there's nothing left that she can remember of her family and friends, she's never complained once. She cried for a bit, but she's taken it far better than I ever could." The nurse just looked down at the girl asleep in her bed, sadly. "Maybe you should bring your cousins by tomorrow. I'm sure she'll be happy to see them, and it might even help her to remember."

"I'll bring them in, as soon as we have a free moment." He didn't really want to bring them in, but he also didn't want to look like he wasn't doing anything he could to help the girl. He watched as the nurse finished her checkup and then just sat for a while in the visitor's chair, trying to figure out exactly what happened.

'Was her identity wrapped that closely around that of the Sohmas from that short amount of time they'd been together, that trying to take her memories of them against her will would rob her of her own self?'

He couldn't explain it. Something like this had never happened to anyone he'd used his 'power' on, but then again, no one he'd tried it on was that involved with the Sohmas. And the ones that were, didn't want to remember the things he took, so they let go of them freely.

He didn't think it was possible, but perhaps, since she had invested so much of her heart and soul into this family, that she'd managed to tie all of her memories, whether they included a Sohma or not, together, in an unconscious battle to keep what she knew of them with her.

The doctor knew she had been warned about how Hatori could alter people's memories, but he still couldn't convince himself that someone was capable of manipulating their memories enough to thwart the whole process.

Not that she was able to keep those memories, if that's what she in fact was attempting to do subconsciously. They were gone forever now, just like everything else apparently was.


	6. Take Kyo With You

By the time Hatori arrived back at his office, Yuki was sitting up quietly thinking things over. What had really gone on before he arrived? He had no real proof that her cousin was hurting her, so he couldn't go to the police. And he wasn't even certain of what happened before he walked in the door, but that didn't excuse what he saw her cousin do to Tohru afterwards. He had seen him hurting her then, so he was certain he had been hurting her beforehand too.

But how many times had he hurt her? How long had this been going on for? She'd been out of the Sohma house for three weeks. That would be plenty of time for countless things to happen. Mind you, she didn't say anything to him, so things couldn't have gotten that out of hand. Could they have? He only feared, if bad things were happening, she wouldn't have wanted to burden anyone with her problems, and most likely would have kept them too herself.

He was so confused over what he should do. He wanted to rip her from that home where she couldn't be safe, and care for her himself. Anywhere would be safer than spending another day with that monster. But then again, what about Akito? He was just as bad of, or probably even worse of a monster when all was said and done. And there was no way that he could defy the wishes of the head Sohma. He knew what happened when he went against him, and it was one of the things he feared most in the world. He wasn't sure if he could live through another one of Akito's punishments.

There was also the threats from Tohru's cousin to worry about. Yuki couldn't care less if he tried to come after him, because he knew he could easily defend himself against a man like that. But Tohru was different. She could never defend herself against his attacks. And he swore if Yuki told anyone about what happened, that he would kill her. And her being at the most vulnerable she's probably ever been, he was seriously worried that he could and would hurt her without much trouble.

'For now,' Yuki thought to himself, 'it would be best if I just kept quiet about this whole thing, until I can work out a plan to get her out of there.'

Yuki was drawn out of his thoughts at the sound of his older cousin's voice.

"You should go and see Tohru in the hospital," Hatori informed his younger cousin, effectively breaking the silence that hung in the air. "Take Kyo with you."

"I thought I wasn't to see her again," Yuki replied, wondering about why the doctor had changed his mind.

"Plans have changed for now. Just make an appearance, and we'll see where things go from there."

"What about Akito?" Yuki asked, cautiously.

"I don't know, but seeing as it's a Sohma hospital, word is going to get back to him sooner or later that she's there. Just be sure to stop by the hospital tomorrow." The doctor didn't want to mention that he was risking Tohru's welfare, to maintain his professionalism. He had told the nurse his younger cousins would be in to see the hospital's favourite amnesiac, and now he had no choice but to follow through. "And leave out the part of her living with you. Just tell her you are a couple of her friends from school. The less she knows about the Sohmas, the better."

Yuki was suspicious of what he was being told, but was happy more than anything that he would be able to see his precious Tohru, even if it meant taking his not so precious cousin Kyo along for the ride.

"There's something you need to know before you go to see her. She has lost all of her memory. Not just her memories of the Sohmas. Everything was erased."

"What? How could...? Why..." Yuki found himself at a loss for words.

"I don't know," Hatori answered deep in thought. "It's never happened before... Oh, and who all knew you were going to visit Tohru-chan today?"

"I mentioned it to Shigure before I left. Why?"

"He doesn't need to know about what went on today."

"I've already decided not to tell anyone, at least for now," Yuki said to the doctor. "I don't want her cousin following through on his threats. First I'm going to need to come up with a plan that will allow me to get her out of there safely, and out of the reach of both her cousin and Akito."

"How are you going to explain that?" Hatori asked seriously, motioning toward the wounds on his cousin's head.

Yuki was genuinely stunned. He hadn't thought about his injuries, and would have all but forgotten about them if it wasn't for the pain he was currently feeling.

"I'll just tell him I got into a fight, and since I was already near the main house, I stopped by your place to get stitched up."

"Fine, I'll give Shigure a call later tonight," the older man said, while scribbling a couple notes into his day planner. "I'll tell him I ran into Tohru at the hospital after you left. I'm sure he'll tell you and Kyo to go visit her first thing in the morning. He'll probably even want to go himself."

Yuki, who was now standing in the doorway, just smiled and turned back to the doctor. "If I were to make a guess, I would have said that we'll be going there tonight. Visiting hours, or no visiting hours. That's how much she means to us."

Hatori just nodded and watched the younger man leave his office. "You know, he's probably right," he said to himself, taking a seat behind a stack of paperwork. After letting out a quiet sigh, he got back to his work.


	7. Tohru's in the Hospital

Somewhere between leaving Hatori's office and nearing Shigure's home, Yuki started to really wonder what had been happening at the Honda household. He knew that things didn't seem right the way they appeared, but he still questioned himself about just how bad things had truly been over there for Tohru since the remodeling had been finished and she returned to her family's care.

Clearly a cousin that was as sick and twisted as the one he'd met earlier in the day was capable of other far more horrendous acts than even he'd witnessed that afternoon, but just how far had things gotten between the two? Was this the first time that he had done something like this? How else had he hurt her? Why didn't anyone realize? Why didn't I?

So many thoughts were going through his mind that he was practically up the driveway to his home, without even noticing where he was or who was watching his approach.

As it turned out, it was Shigure that was keeping watch, and was the one to force his attention back from the inner depths of the young rat's mind to the real world that stood around him.

"Tohru-chan's in the hospital," the older man said, leaning against the open doorway.

"Huh? What?" Yuki asked coming out of his daze, and remembering the situation at hand. He was trying his best to act genuinely surprised of the news and continued on. "But she's okay, right? What happened?"

"I'm not sure of the details. But I just got off the phone with Hatori. He saw her at the hospital earlier as he was restocking his supplies."

"But I was just at Hatori's, and he didn't mention anything about..." Yuki trailed off, before he continued on with the story he'd planned up earlier in the day with the doctor. The one about getting into a fight near the main house and having Hatori stitch him up. Shigure didn't seem to notice as he fabricated half of the story on the fly.

"You used up the last of his... something or other," Shigure said trying to remember what the doctor had told him over the phone. "Anyway, now that you're back, I'm off to the hospital to see how my young wife is holding up. I wouldn't want her to feel lonely on such a night like this."

As he finished his sentence, a stray running shoe came flying across the room, smashing into the side of Shigure's head. Obviously not liking what the dog was implying, Kyo stormed up in a rampage of profanities from what appeared to be the living room, fists flying a mile a minute and threatening to tear a new series of holes in the house.

"Fine, you can tag along if it means you'll stop destroying my house," Shigure sighed, before continuing in a dream-like voice. "There'll be plenty of time later to renew our vows."

That comment just made things all the worse, and the older cousin ended up getting hit this time from both sides, from each of his cousins.

After the short fight, and the few minutes of bickering that followed, the three found themselves peering out through the dirty windows from the inside of an older looking sedan. Shigure was behind the wheel in the driver's seat, with Yuki sitting shotgun just to the left of him, leaving Kyo grumbling to himself in the backseat.

"You can drive?" Kyo finally spoke up and voiced the question that Yuki wanted to know, but didn't want to ask. The rat was just happy they had a fast means of getting to where his Tohru happened to be, and he didn't dare question it now.

"Of course I can!" Shigure replied, the pride seeping out of him like he were a child showing off his latest gifts.

"Well, how long has it been since you last drove somewhere?" Kyo continued his interrogation.

Shigure scratched his head a moment as he thought about it. Unable to pinpoint just how long it had been he decided on, "Well, it's just like riding a bike, right? How hard can it really be?"

Yuki just dropped his head into his hands. 'This is going to be a long _scary_ trip,' he thought to himself as he fastened his seatbelt.

"Fine," Kyo continued, also taking the opportunity to buckle himself in. "Where's your license?"

"Ah! That one's easy!" Shigure proclaimed as he started to flip through the stacks of cards in his wallet. Upon finding it, he tossed it into the backseat where it fell into the cat's lap. "Satisfied?" He asked without waiting for an answer and stepped on the gas, the car quickly responding and making its way onto the road.

"This expired six years ago!" Kyo screamed out, throwing the card back up front.

"Oh yea..." Shigure said thoughtfully. "I knew there was something I was forgetting to do."


	8. Akito's Checkup, He Knows?

Hatori figured that Shigure and the others would be well on their way to the hospital by now, and though he wanted to put off his own doctorly duties (his nightly check up of Akito), he also wanted to hurry up and get it over with so that he could start putting this whole screwed up day behind him.

Sure, he felt bad that Tohru had lost everything when he'd used his _special gift_ on the girl, but he also knew that with the fresh slate she had been given, she could have a new start at life and enjoy the things any normal girl would. All the while, staying well away from the Sohma's reach, which would be best for all parties concerned.

After letting out a tired sigh, he began his short trek through the inner estate. He let himself in through the front doors to the main house and from there, the doctor calmly walked down the long hallway to the room where the family head was known to rest on most evenings. He knocked quietly a few times and then waited. After a few moments of silence, he pushed the door slightly open and peering into the darkness beyond.

"Akito?" he questioned.

"You may enter," a frail voice said from across the room, without a sign of enthusiasm.

"How are you feeling?" Hatori questioned, peering into the darkness. Slowly his eyes were adjusting to the utter darkness that engulfed his surroundings, but soon he was able to make out the faint silhouette of the other man.

Without even so much as looking in the doctor's direction, Akito replied with, "I heard that a patient by the name of Honda Tohru was checked into the Sohma hospital earlier today." He said the words matter of factly, just testing the water to see what Hatori knew of the subject.

'So he's already heard', Hatori thought to himself, dejected that he couldn't dodge the topic for another night. "Yes, I ran into her while I was restocking some supplies." He left it at that, not wanting to donate any non-essential information if the need for it didn't arise. He was hoping that the topic of conversation would end with that, but in the back of his mind, he knew better than to believe that.

"And..." Akito began, with a short pause, "You've been putting off our meeting now for too long."

Hatori knew he was talking about his future meeting with Tohru, because for days now, he's been delaying the inevitable, claiming one excuse after another to postpone the date. "You're still too sick to have that much excitement around here. Besides, it's all over now. She's living with her family and I took the opportunity today at the hospital to remove her memories of the Sohma family."

"So her _condition_ was because of you after all..." Akito said, smirking to himself, while still facing away from the other man.

"Yes, and now that I've _dealt_ with her, you don't have to worry about any of that anymore. She's no longer connected to us in any way. It's over."

Akito slowly turned to face the doctor, looking for any kind of emotion in Hatori's eyes. 'Why now?' he wondered to himself for a moment as the complaints creeped up in the back of his mind. 'Why now after all this time? I haven't even yet been able to fully enjoy the situation.' But he wasn't about to let a simple thing like that spoil his fun.

The head of the Sohma family waited a few more seconds before saying in a commanding voice that would only be tolerated from his own lips, "Honda Tohru... bring her to me now."

Hatori protested against the request, stating that the family would be much better off without her. He tried to convince the other man about how great things would be now that they were finally free from that outsider who knew their deeply guarded secret.

Despite his protests, Akito would have none of it. He used his status in the family to threaten the doctor's welfare, while reminding him that he was indeed the head of the household and that his word was as good as law as far as any of the Sohma's were concerned – especially the ones cursed with the spirits of the zodiac.

Knowing he could never openly challenge the Sohma head, he agreed to the other's demands, but stressed that it would have to wait until she had been released from the hospital - and even then, he'd prefer to give her some time to recuperate before bringing her back into the Sohma family's clutches.

"I'll give her one week," Akito stated firmly. "Whether or not she is out of the hospital by that point, you'll bring her to me, or you'll pay the consequences right alongside that girl."

Hatori could tell that Akito was physically improved from the previous night's check up, due to his increased demands that he was forcing onto him. He also knew this would be the end of the so-called checkup (or lack thereof) and simply nodded in reply to the other man, before making his leave and retiring to his own room for the night.


	9. You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

From the road, Yuki and Kyo were both rather astonished at just how good of a driver Shigure really was. Despite his typically childish demeanor that they'd grown to expect and ignore, he was actually acting like a calm and collected adult while behind the wheel. It had that mental shock value to the situation, which kept the two younger cousins rather quiet in their seats.

As Shigure finished parking the car in the hospital's lot, he turned to face his younger cousins – with that look of seriousness still evident on his face. "There is something Hatori told me over the phone, that you need to know before going in." He paused for a second, to be sure he had both boy's complete attention. "She won't remember us."

Yuki just cringed as he remembered the flash of light filling her home, while Kyo's eyes opened wide with shock.

"Then why would he tell us what happened to her?" Kyo wondered aloud. "He knew we'd come to see her if he told us, so why even let us know, since he's suppressed her memories of us?"

Kyo wasn't sure what to think, and since the other two men in the car said nothing, he continued. "I'd think he'd be happy having her out of our lives for good. Isn't that what he wanted from the beginning?"

"It's not that simple, Kyo." Shigure said, trying to find the words to go on. "She doesn't have any memories. None of us, none of her childhood, none of her family, none of her friends, and none of her mother."

Both boys were in shock. Even though one already knew of the dire situation Tohru found herself in now, for Yuki, just hearing it aloud made it seem so real that it terrified the rat to no end.

No one spoke a single word for at least a minute, giving Kyo ample opportunity to get more and more angry. He made a fist so tight that his knuckles turned white and cried out, "What in the Hell did he do to her?!"

"He didn't know something like that was going to happen," Shigure said, trying to ease the tension. "He couldn't explain it, but I think he told me what happened, because he knew you'd find out yourselves soon enough at school. I think he really does care about our young Tohru, and this is just one of the ways he shows it."

"Yea, sure... Great way..." Kyo mumbled, taking in a deep breath and slowly releasing the death grip that had become his fists.

The three cousins calmed themselves down, knowing that if they were to show up before Tohru in that frame of mind, they would be of no help towards her recovery. They finally made their way through the hospital, and after asking around a short while, discovered where Tohru's room was.

The three of them entered the room to see the smiling face of the young woman who was lying in the bed.

'How can she look so happy at a time like this?' Yuki wondered to himself before he shook the bad thoughts of the day to the back of his mind. Putting on a friendly smile, he then introduced himself and Kyo as 'a couple of friends from school', leaving out the whole part about her living with them, and of course not mentioning anything about the zodiac or the curse.

Tohru looked over at Shigure thinking he must be one of her teachers along to escort the boys. "Teacher?" She left the question open ended and awaited a response from the older man.

"Yes, oh dear flower of mine?" Shigure responded in a sing song manner, which only led to a smack up the side of the head from each of the boys.

"Just ignore him, Honda-san. He's our older cousin, whom you've only met a few times – in fact you don't even know him! He's only here cause he brought us to see you." Yuki fumbled, thinking there were somethings in life that she was better off forgetting.

"Oh, he's not telling you the half of it, my young bride... we've lived together for quite a long time." Satisfied with his half-lie, Shigure plastered on a most convincing smile.

"MARRIED?! I'm married? To my teacher?" Tohru was visibly flustered, and seemed unable to keep still.

"No... no. You're not and you shouldn't believe anything that he tries to tell you," Yuki tried to reassure the confused girl, while Kyo just sent the most bone-chilling glare in Shigure's direction.

"Forget it... we'll talk about that subject some other time when you're feeling better. In the meantime, why don't you two boys get some drinks for the four of us," Shigure suggested handing Yuki some money.

"Oh you don't have to! That's too much trouble for you to go through just for me! I'm just happy you all came to visit."

Yuki found it interesting to note that her personality hadn't seemed to change any despite what had gone on. A hint of a smile crept across his flawless features as he watched the girl continue with her rant across from him.

"No, no, no... I insist. It's my treat!" Shigure nodded smiling.

Tohru just blushed slightly and looked down at her fidgeting hands.

"Good, then it's decided. Boys?" The older man motioned towards the door.

"There is no way that I'm leaving her alone in a room with you," Yuki blurted out at a shocked Shigure. "Kyo? Don't you dare let her out of your sight!"

The orange haired boy just nodded in response. He didn't want to leave Tohru alone with that letch any more than Yuki did. For once, the two actually agreed.


	10. Going Home

Tohru had spent four days in the hospital and still hadn't been able to remember anything about what had led her there in the first place. Though she did have her fair share of visitors while she was there, none had volunteered any information as to the things that may have gone on to lead to her current situation. She had wanted to ask them, but she hadn't really found a time that seemed appropriate for that sort of questioning.

In fact, other than people asking her if she was feeling alright, the conversations seemed to be free of anything to do with her being in the hospital or anything leading up to her stay in said building. She didn't mind though, she was more than happy that her friends had stopped by and that they were still willing to be her friend, with or without her past memories of them and the things they'd shared together over the years.

Her hospital days had gone by rather slowly, and she spent most of the time resting so as to save up her energy for her nightly visitors. They were the best part of her day, so she didn't want to be tired when her friends arrived. Hana and Uo always stopped by the hospital right after school finished, while Yuki and Kyo would stop by later in the evening. Both sets of people would stay for around an hour before they were reminded by one of the hospital staff that Tohru needed her rest.

She was really hoping she'd be able to see her friends again today before she left, but it would have to wait until she returned to school the following day. All her friends would still be in class for several more hours, and by the time they'd get out she'd be at home with her family for the night because she was being released from the hospital in just a short time. Right after she finished the meal she had sitting in front of her, she would be free to return home.

After her last bite, she pushed the empty tray to the side and hopped out of bed. She thanked her nurses for everything they'd done for her and then asked one of them if her family had arrived to pick her up yet.

The nurse let out a small shrug and held out a small sheet of paper. "They called and said they couldn't make it in to pick you up, but if you head to the address written on here, they'll be waiting for you when you get there."

Tohru smiled and took the paper from the nurse. After a short bow and a little wave, she walked towards exit and looked at the address. Not at all sure of how to get there, she approached an older woman sitting on a bench just outside the hospital entrance and asked her for some help with the directions.

"Well, you just take this street past the next three intersections, and then turn right. Keep walking down that road until it crosses with the one listed on your paper." The woman gestured with her hand as she delivered the directions the younger woman would need to get her home.

Tohru thanked her several times over before leaving in the direction that the lady had shown her. During the walk, she started to wonder about what kind of a family she had. What were they like? Why hadn't they been in to visit her? And why couldn't one of them come by to pick her up today? She figured they must have been very busy people and didn't mind that they weren't able to visit, especially if it meant that they wouldn't be overdoing themselves by taking all that extra time to stop by just to see her. Busy people should be resting on their free time and should not have to spend it all in the hospital. There'd be plenty of time for her to get to know them again once she got home.

One thing she was excited about though was getting to see her cousin again. A familiar face would be more than welcomed right about now. He seemed like a nice enough guy when she'd been able to meet him – after all, he'd been in to see her the day she arrived at the hospital, even when he himself had been hurt too. Come to think of it, maybe he was in the same accident she'd been in. She'd have to ask him later if he knew what had happened to her. If anyone was going to tell her, she figured he'd probably be the one that would know best.

Once she arrived at the address that she was given, she took a quick look around at the place where she lived, double checking to see that she had the right place. It appeared to be a decent home, in fact, it seemed to be newer and larger than the others in the area. Slowly, she made her way up to the front door and knocked. Not knowing the place, she still felt odd about just walking in, even though it was her home.

Seeing the look of relief wash over the face of the woman that answered the door, Tohru felt more at ease to be home. 'This must be my Aunt', she thought to herself as she took a closer look at the woman.

"Thank goodness you're back home Tohru!" The lady in question said loudly. "Nothing's been the same here without you. I've almost run out of clean clothes to wear, so after you cook us lunch, you can throw a couple of loads into the laundry for me. Just don't forget to hang them on the line after they are done, because I'll be needing them by tomorrow."

Tohru just smiled at the woman and nodded. "It's good to be back," she said as she walked through the doorway and swapped her shoes for a pair of indoor slippers that were waiting in the hallway.

"Oh yeah," her Aunt continued. "There's also a stack of dishes that you'll need to get done before you can make our lunch, so you should probably start up with that and leave your unpacking until afterwards."


	11. Getting Back Into Life's Little Routines

It had been a few days since Tohru had returned home from the hospital, and she was starting to settle into her 'new' life. Though she didn't remember having to do all this stuff before, she was kind of happy to be given all the housework, because it kept her busy and stopped her mind from wandering onto less pleasant thoughts.

As she went about her daily routine, she was trying to think of the right way to approach her cousin. The question about what had happened to her was still in the forefront of her mind, and she thought that tonight would be the night when she would gather up her courage and go straight into the asking. Unable to think of just the right words to use, she decided that she'd get right to the point and just ask him straight out.

After she was finally finished with her household chores, she headed down the hall towards her cousin's bedroom. Peeking her head inside the slightly opened door, she watched as the man put down the book he was reading and motion for her to come in. She sat on the bed next to him, and took in a deep breath.

"I've been wanting to ask you something," she said.

"About what?" Was all he replied.

"Well, about what happened to me."

He raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "You really don't remember?"

"No, I've tried so many times, but still – nothing." Tohru looked down at her fingers that were fidgeting in her lap. "I thought you might know. Did something happen to us? I mean, you were hurt at the same time as me, right?"

He nodded in agreement. "We didn't want to tell you until after you were fully recovered, but I suppose now is as good a time as any."

The cousin breathed in and plastered a look of concern on his face for effect. "When I got home that day, there was someone in the house. I don't know who it was, or why they were here, but just that they were. He wasn't alone though, because you were also here when I arrived, and he was hurting you. I fought with him until he finally ran off, but by then, you were already really badly hurt." The man balled up his fist in a show of frustration. "If only I'd gotten home earlier... none of this would have happened. You'd still have your memories and you'd never have been hurt."

"This isn't your fault!" Tohru cried. "You saved me. You even got hurt yourself doing it! Things could have been much worse if it wasn't for you. I'm so happy to have you as a cousin and I'm so happy that you got here in time. If it wasn't for you..." Tohru let the sentence fall off short and grabbed a hold of the man and held him close to her.

They remained like that for a short while, and now that she knew the truth about what happened, she thanked her cousin and left him to continue the book he was reading when she'd first arrived.

As for herself, she too had things to finish up tonight, so she headed off to her own room and though it was already late, she still had homework to do. Sleep would just have to wait a little bit longer. At least she knew that she wouldn't be wide awake again tonight wondering about what had happened to her. Strange as it was, now that she knew the truth, she felt more relaxed and able to move past it all and start fresh.

Then again, maybe relaxation wasn't quite what the girl longed for after all. She'd barely started her homework and found herself yawning as she erased her current math problem to try it once more. Eventually, it would have to match the number that was listed in the answer key at the back of the book.

Before she knew it, Tohru was waking up, her head on a pile of paper and looking out the window to a bright new morning. Realization hit her hard as she came to her senses. She'd fallen asleep doing her homework, and there was no way that she'd get it done in time for class. After some serious freaking out on her part, she decided that she'd be better off not missing anymore classes, and to do that, she still needed to get ready in order to make it to school without being late.

She managed to get ready in record time, but still made it to the classroom with no time to spare. She headed straight to her teacher's desk and started apologizing over and over to the woman.

"I'm so sorry... please, give me extra homework so I can make up for it. I'll do as much as you want, and it will never happen again. I'm sorry..."

The teacher had to place her hands on the girl's shoulders to calm her down. "Shhh... don't worry about it. There'll be plenty of homework for you to catch up on when you are feeling better again." The teacher smiled at her. "Just take your time and do the things that you can. First you need to take care of Tohru, and then you can worry about your homework."

The teacher calmed the frantic girl down enough to lead her to her seat. "Just relax here, and if you have any questions about the material, you can ask me after class. I know it's got to be difficult for you, but you'll be fine, so don't worry so much."

Tohru just nodded in agreement and silently told herself that she'd do much better in class so that something like this would never happen again.

After taking notes for a while and working through some exercise sheets, it was time for lunch. Tohru loved this part of the day best, because it meant that she'd get to spend time with her friends and hear about the things they'd done together in the past, all the while making new memories for her to remember in the future.

She sat down with the group under a tree in the corner of the school yard. Uo, Hana, Yuki and Kyo were all there with her, laughing and joking and having a rather good time.

After a short break in the laughter, Uo looked over to her friend and said with a serious tone, "Are you doing alright? You look exhausted. Trouble sleeping?"

Tohru just laughed slightly at the thought. Sleep was her problem, but not in the way Uo imagined. Sleep was what made her fall so far behind. "I'm just a little stressed because I wasn't able to get all my homework done last night. I'm sleeping fine, don't worry about me." Tohru gave her friend the trademark smile that seemed to wash away any trace of worry the other girl may have had.

"Good, but if there's ever anything that you want to talk about with me... you know you can." Uo said before returning to her boxed lunch.

"Are you having trouble with the homework?" Now it was Yuki's turn to do the asking. "It can be tricky, especially since you don't remember learning most of it. If you want, I can come over to your place and we can review things tomorrow, since there's no school."

"Really?! Thank you so much!" Tohru didn't know what else to say, so she thanked him again and smiled warmly.

Yuki was just happy that she'd taken him up on her offer, partly because it would give him an excuse to spend more time with her, and also because it would give him the chance to see for himself how things were really doing at her home.

Following lunch, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and after a few hours, everyone was getting ready to go home.

"So, is tomorrow at 10am fine?" Yuki asked Tohru as he shoved some papers into his bag.

"That would be great!" she replied.

"I'd walk you out, but I still have a few student council things that I have to clear up before I leave."

"Don't worry about it!" Tohru said, waving. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She wasn't but a few steps out the front door of the building when she spotted a man wearing a long white lab coat. He introduced himself as Dr. Hatori Sohma and told her that he'd come to pick her up because there were a few follow-up tests he'd need to run today.

In total Tohru fashion, she believed every word without question, and followed the man to his car. The two drove back to the Sohma estate in silence, and upon arrival, he brought her straight up to the main building, instead of to his office.


	12. On the Lookout For Tohru Once More

"Where on Earth could that child be?" It was getting late and stomachs were starting to rumble around the Honda household. "I told her to come straight home after school, but I knew I never should have expected Kyoko's offspring to actually follow directions. If only she'd come to be raised by us sooner, she might have learned a thing or two about responsibility." The Aunt let out a huff and picked up the phone. "I guess we're ordering in tonight."

"Think about it, there's only so many places she can be, Mom." The cousin got to his feet and grabbed his jacket. "Don't worry about it. I'll find her and bring her home."

"At least my children are useful," she continued before telling the person on the other end of the line her order.

It didn't take long for the cousin to figure out where she'd be hiding. She'd run back those sleazy guys she had been living with. Did she remember what happened? Is that why she ran away? He'd have to find out before he let things get out of hand.

Before long, he'd made it to his destination and was banging hard against a wooden door.

Shigure, after a few seconds wait, popped his head outside the door to see what the fuss was all about.

"Where is she?!" the man outside demanded.

"She who?" Shigure said with a chuckle. He figured this had something to do with one of his many indiscretions with women of an 'already involved' status. "You'll have to be more specific I'm afraid."

"Tohru, you half wit!"

"Tohru?" Now that was a surprise. Not one of the names he was expecting. "And who are you?"

"The person that has come to bring her home."

"Oh, so your the family she's currently staying with right now?"

"Stop screwing around! I know she's in there!"

"Why would she be here? She moved out over a month ago..."

"Just shut up," the cousin said pushing past Shigure and searching through the home. "I know she's hiding here somewhere."

The writer just watched on as the soon to be police officer conducted his own personal raid. After a few minutes of searching and coming up empty, Shigure just glared at the man and hissed, "Satisfied? Now get the Hell out of my house!"

The cousin did just that, all the while stomping his feet and slamming the door on the way out. He was sure she'd be here. Where else would she go? He didn't really know anything about his younger cousin other than the fact that this is the place that she'd turned to when she had nowhere else to go. She was supposed to be here. Now what was he supposed to do?

---

The afternoon had long passed by and Yuki and Kyo had since returned home when Shigure found himself, along with the cat examining something that the rat was claiming to be edible. He was waiting for Kyo to take the first bite before deciding what he'd do with his plate, but his younger cousin didn't seem so inclined to be the first one to try it either.

After minutes of silent stares, Kyo rose to his feet and proclaimed that he would make something else in the way of dinner. An audible sigh of relief was even heard from Yuki's lips upon hearing his cousin's offer. No one in their right mind would have wanted to eat what the rat had made anyway, not even Yuki himself.

As Kyo was busy chopping things on the counter and throwing them into a pot on the stove, Shigure asked to no one in particular, "You guys wouldn't happen to know where Tohru is, would you?"

"Huh?" Kyo stopped cutting and turned around. "You do know that she moved out, right? She doesn't live here anymore..."

Shigure sighed. "Yes, sadly, I do know that. And that's not what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?" Yuki chimed in, not really wanting to play twenty questions with the dog.

"I mean, someone was here looking for her today and rummaged through my house without so much as asking me first."

"What? Who?" The questions almost came out at once, the former from the cat, while the latter came from the rat.

"It seems our dear flower has run away from the farm."

"Farm? Since when did she move to a farm? Are there even farms close enough around here for her to still be able to walk in to school in the morning?"

"He didn't mean an actual farm, moron. He means she's not at home." Yuki just looked at the cat with disgust. "Do I have to explain everything to you?"

"Why the Hell didn't he just say that in the first place?"

Yuki rolled his eyes and held back a punch. How can some people be so stupid? "Anyway," Yuki continued. "This person that was looking for her. Did he say who he was?"

"Not in so many words, but from what I gathered, he'd be of _the family_."

"What did he look like?" Yuki questioned.

Just to humor him, Shigure relied with, "Oh, about so tall (motioning a height with his hand), dark hair and glasses. I'm sure she's already back home by now, though after what he said, I was kind of hoping that she'd show up back here."

Yuki wasn't sure what to do, but he knew he had to do something, so he quickly grabbed his things and headed toward the door.

"Going to look for Tohru?" Shigure called out without ever receiving a reply. "I'm sure she's fine. "It was probably just a misunderstanding and she's back home by now."

The last thought Yuki had as he walked out the door was, 'Even if she's back home, she's definitely not fine.'


	13. Akito Gets His Fun

As Hatori led an all-to-trusting Tohru toward the inner section of the Sohma estate, Akito looked on from behind a window. He could finally have his fun with the girl that had stolen the affections of so many of the zodiac members. So long he had waited to get his hands on the girl, but now the waiting was over.

In anticipation he listened to the sound of footsteps from just beyond his door. Moments later, Hatori led a smiling Tohru into the room to which the God had decided upon for the meeting. Though Hatori did put up a bit of a fuss when Akito told the man to leave the girl alone with him, he quickly gave in and did what was asked of him like any proper member of the zodiac should.

Seeing the older man leave, Tohru was left with a sense of uncertainty as to what was going on. She looked at Akito with a look of confusion and asked him, "Are you my doctor too?"

The man just smiled and took a step closer. That smile was all it took for Tohru's tensions to ease up and for her to regain that sense of calm that had previously escaped her. This man was probably the head doctor, which would be why he was too busy to pick his patients up himself.

The head of the family closed the distance between the two until he was standing directly in front of the girl. His smile never leaving his features, he struck her hard enough in the face to make her go crashing to the ground at his feet.

"I hear you like it rough," Akito said with a smirk, tilting his head ever so slightly to one side.

"Huh?" Tohru said, as she held her hand to her cheek, the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Oh yeah," he continued, laughing. "I also heard you might need a little reminder." Akito grabbed her arm, dragging her to her feet before pushing her across the room and throwing her into the corner.

"I've been waiting for this day ever since I agreed to let you stay with the Sohmas. Did you think you could just steal them away from me without ever having to repay me for my good will? You had the things you wanted – even if you don't remember them right now, and now I'm going to take the things that I want."

Tohru still didn't understand what was going on. She didn't even know who this man was, but she was pretty sure that he wasn't her doctor. He was much to scary to be someone that helped people for a living.

"You honestly don't remember me? After everything that I've done for you?" Akito questioned.

"No, I'm sorry. I don't remember anything."

"Well, in that case... there's this new technique I've been wanting to try on someone. Theory goes, if you can re-experience the things leading up to your memory loss, then the forgotten memories will start to resurface. Wanna try?"

He didn't really care if her memories ever came back, but figured masking his true desires – the ones to bring pain and misery to the girl that had led _his_ zodiac astray, would probably be a good thing to do. It should at least make the wench more compliant and easier to manage – until she caught on anyway. Not that she ever did seem very observant to what was really going on around her.

"Okay." Though she was afraid, she thought that perhaps this was some sort of therapy after all. If it meant that she might get her memories back, she was willing to try it. Plus, she didn't want to be the kind of person that was untrusting of everyone around her. She believed that everyone was truly good inside, just that sometimes you just have to look a little harder to see it.

"Good. I'll play the part of some prick that you live with, and you, well, you'll just be that good for nothing excuse for a girl that you've always been. Understood?"

She didn't know how or if she should reply to that, so she just looked back at him trying to hold back the tears that were fighting to escape once more.

Annoyed, he asked her again, "Do you understand?!"

She barely nodded, but it was enough for him. In his mind, that was almost as if she was consenting to his twisted game that he'd planned out for the two of them.

"Fine, let's get started." Akito picked up a vase and showed it to the girl. "Remembering anything?"

He'd heard from Hatori about how her cousin had smashed a vase against Yuki's head, and about how badly she'd been hurt from the pieces of glass that ended up all over the floor.

By the way she was shaking her head, he figured the vase alone hadn't sparked anything in the girl's mind. He'd just have to try harder. And he did... by smashing the vase on the floor just in front of her.

Startled, she jumped back, but only found herself hitting a wall with nowhere else to go.

"How about now?"

Again she shook her head.

Tohru wondered if she'd ever remember anything at all from this and just how much more of this 'therapy' she'd have to endure. Could something like this actually bring back lost memories? Maybe it was the shock factor that was needed to get it all started. Since it was for her own good, she'd have to bear with it a little longer and trust that things would all work out in the end.

Akito picked up one of the larger pieces of glass and hovered over the shaking girl. "I'd even bet you still have the scars."

Without even thinking, her hand came to her leg where she did in fact still have the cuts on her. They weren't scars yet, but they were scabbed over and had been clearly visible that morning when she'd used the sterilizing cream she'd been prescribed during her stay in the hospital.

"So that's where they are," Akito said with a laugh as he lifted her dress above her knees to reveal the reddish-brown lines that marred her skin.

At first he traced the lines with his fingertip, but then he began dragging the piece of glass he held over the already injured skin. At first he didn't even press hard, but with every movement, the glass went deeper until the blood came flowing to the surface and trickling down her leg. Then, lines and lines of red began to appear as he continued to cut into her.

Her eyes filled up with tears, the pain overwhelming her senses. This couldn't be right. Why was he doing this to her? Make him stop! She pushed at the man to force his hand away, but he was stronger than she was, and had little trouble controlling her, especially after he jabbed that sharp piece of glass deep into her leg.

The intense pain mixed with the blood loss was becoming too much for her body to bare, and soon she'd lost most of her fight and just fell to one side so that she was no longer sitting upright.

"What? Already had enough?" Akito was laughing and thoroughly enjoying the pain he was bringing to the girl. "I wish we could have done this longer, but you see I'm thinking we went a little too fast with this whole thing. I'm just not used to dealing with outsiders." Akito sighed, the look of disappointment evident on his face. "Whatever... I'm done. The exit's that way. Leave when you're ready."

Akito quickly got up and without so much as a glance back, he left the room.


	14. Picking Up the Pieces

Hatori sat in his office wondering what he'd just done. How could he even call himself a man after sending in a defenseless girl to be put through whatever torment Akito had thought up. He tried not to think about it, but the guilt was overwhelming as it mixed with the memories of the things he'd seen Akito do to his own family in the past. How could he be so cruel to let his God continue to do these things to the ones he cared about? He knew the head of the Sohma household was sacred, so just he blamed himself for everything that had gone on. If only he'd put a stop to it years ago.

He wasn't even sure how long he'd been drowning in the sea of guilt his mind had created for him, when he heard the phone ring. Reaching over, he grabbed the receiver and just waited. He wasn't able to gather enough inner strength to properly greet the person on the other end of the line. And he knew without a doubt exactly who it was that was calling.

"I'm done with that... that... thing." Akito added some extra venom to the last word. "You know what you have to do."

Inside his chest, Hatori's heart broke. Even so, he complied without so much as a single word because he was certain about what the other man had wanted him to do. They'd discussed it earlier. When Akito was done with his 'meeting', it was to be left up to Hatori to get rid of the girl, and wipe her memory clean of the day's events. The doctor hung up the phone and made his way to the main house.

He honestly figured he'd have to stop a fleeing Tohru, and was a little shocked when she was no where to be seen. Thinking that Akito may have waited too late to call him, he hastened his pace, all the while keeping a watchful eye out for the girl.

Once he'd made it through the front entrance of the main building, he learned that his thoughts of a fleeing Tohru were unfounded. Tohru hadn't left at all, in fact, she wasn't even trying to escape. The doctor knew he had been worried for all the wrong reasons when he saw the slender arm of the young girl sprawled across the hallway floor, her hand covered in blood.

He hurried to her, and found that there was a lot more of her blood on the other side of the doorway that he'd left her in not that long ago. Past the girl, he saw a trail of red that led from that same doorway through to the corner of the room where a large puddle of blood was mixed with the glistening shards of shattered glass.

He reached down to her wrist and prayed for a pulse. Thankfully, he found one, but the doctor in him knew that she had lost a lot more blood than the last time he'd been called to help her. Further more, he knew that this time she'd die if he waited on an ambulance to arrive. He'd have to get her to the hospital, and fast if she had any chance of surviving. But first, he'd have to do what he could for the girl here, to prepare her for the trip across town.

He was thankful he'd thought enough to bring his medical bag with him. He knew the way Akito felt towards the girl, and had been fully prepared to bandage her up, should she need it, but he was never expecting her to be this badly hurt.

First, he wrapped up her upper leg to slow the blood loss of the deepest cuts he could see. Then he quickly proceeded to remove the shards of glass that were still stuck in her hands and legs, before bandaging them up as well. He could tell just by looking at her cuts that they weren't there from any sort of accident. The ones on her upper leg had been straight and deliberate – not to mention in the same location as her last injuries, while the rest of the cuts she'd suffered must have come after when she dragged herself through the broken glass trying to escape.

After he'd done all he could do for her there, he lifted her into his arms, keeping her at an awkward distance from himself. It was hard to hold someone in the air at arm's length, but it was the only way he'd be able to get her quickly to his car without him transforming.

Once he made it to the car, he laid her in the backseat of the vehicle, not worrying about the blood that was getting into his like-new upholstery. He was far too worried about the blood that had nearly soaked through every inch of her dress to think of much else – other than getting the girl to the hospital, which was where she'd need to be soon if she was to get the blood transfusion that would save her life.

Hating himself for both what he'd done and what he was about to do, he gritted his teeth and erased her memory for a second time. He figured she didn't have much more to lose by this point, and the memories of today were something she would be fine to live without. He'd already taken a lifetime of memories away from her, what was another seven days?


	15. Once Again, It's Back to the Hospital

After checking a good number of places to see if he could find Tohru, Yuki had learned no more than he knew when he ran out of Shigure's home earlier. His last idea was that perhaps she'd been working late at the hospital, and had forgotten to tell her family where she'd be that night. It was certainly worth a try anyhow, so when Yuki arrived at the hospital, he started asking around if anyone had seen her today.

After asking several people who said they didn't know anything, he finally found out that she hadn't been around since the day she'd been released. The orderly he spoke to had also told him that her cousin had come in before one of her scheduled shifts to let everyone know that she'd no longer be working for them.

They hadn't asked for details, but they all figured that the trauma of the past week was too much for her to handle, and that it was probably best if she took the time off anyway. They were most likely right, but Yuki was still concerned because he knew just how much she had loved her job and the responsibilities that it gave her. Mind you, could she still really love a job that she didn't remember?

Fresh out of ideas, Yuki was about to leave the hospital and head back home when he saw Hatori rushing through the halls with an unconscious Tohru in his arms. Yuki ran over to his older cousin and with a look of shock asked, "What happened to her?"

"She's lost a lot of blood," Hatori told him quickly. "If she doesn't get some now, she's going to die."

Yuki was clearly upset at the news, so the doctor told him that she'd be fine, but he'd just have to wait there as Hatori got her the help she needed. He'd be back as soon as he could to let him know how she was doing.

After Hatori left, Yuki ran to the pay phone down the hall and dialed up Shigure's home number. He frantically told the other man how Tohru was unconscious in the hospital and explained to him that she'd lost a lot of blood before she got there. He also told the dog how bad of shape she seemed to been in when he saw her, but that Hatori was with her right now and would share any news, as soon as there was something new to tell.

"Have you called her family yet?" Shigure asked concerned.

"They are probably the ones that did this to her!" Yuki almost yelled into the phone. Hatori hadn't told him anything about Tohru's visit with Akito, so he was just working from his gut feelings on this theory of his about what might have happened before she'd arrived. He didn't seem to be wondering why Hatori was the one to bring her in.

"What?" Shigure questioned, not really sure what Yuki had meant by that last statement. "Why would they do that to Tohru?"

Yuki hadn't really been thinking clearly until that point, when he realized that Shigure and the others were all in the dark about what he'd interrupted a week ago between Tohru and her cousin. Scolding himself silently for letting the 'cat out of the bag' so to speak, he decided it was time to tell the truth to his cousin. Obviously keeping the secret hadn't protected her in the least, so telling someone else shouldn't make things much worse, he figured.

After taking in a few deep breaths, Yuki went on and told Shigure about what had happened those seven short days ago. He also told him about the threats that her cousin had made forcing him to keep things quiet in exchange for her safety, and about how the 'amnesia' she ended up with hadn't occurred by a chance meeting at the hospital, like the doctor had told him before. Rather, that it was just a botched job of Hatori's memory suppression after he'd gone to save her in her home at Yuki's request.

After a pause that seemed to go on forever, Shigure quietly told Yuki that he'd be right there and hung up the phone.

---

Across town, Tohru's cousin was also on the phone making some calls for himself. He had contacted the hospital figuring that Tohru probably went back there in hopes of secretly getting her job back. After all, she'd begged her family saying that she wanted to keep the job. She told them it would let her get things in her life back to the way she'd been told was 'normal'. Of course, they had refused her request on the basis that she needed time to recover her lost memories before taking on all that extra work.

Truth be told however, the family had planned to make her quit the job before the 'stranger' even attacked her. To them, it seemed that Tohru's working hours at the hospital took away from the time she should be spending on the chores around the house to repay them for her share of the food and rent. They saw this whole ordeal as the perfect excuse to put a stop to it and have her all to themselves.

Not too long into the phone call, the cousin learned that instead of secretly going back to work like he'd first suspected, she had actually just arrived minutes before and was now in the care of a team of physicians. They informed him that she was currently in serious condition, and undergoing treatment for the amount of blood loss she'd suffered. After receiving the rest of the details about her case, he thanked the person on the other end of the line, and hung up the phone.

He turned around in his seat and said to his mother in a slightly annoyed tone, "Tohru's gone and hurt herself again..."

"What?" the woman let out a dejected sigh. "I _don't_ have time for this tonight!"

"Don't worry about it," the cousin explained without a hint of emotion in his voice. "They say that since she did this to herself this time, she's going to be under observation for at least a few more days. There's really no need to hurry."

Feeling relieved at the news, she added, "Thank God my children didn't turn out like that. If only Kyoko would have brought her up right... but I suppose it's too late for that now."


	16. This Time Was Intentional

Hatori still held the girl in his arms as he sped his way through the hospital's hallways. Spotting Dr. Saitou on his way by, he called the man over for some assistance. He had been the doctor in charge of Tohru's case from the week before and Hatori was thankful that he'd been scheduled to work during this shift as well. The pair of them quickly found a suitable room where they carefully moved Tohru onto one of the empty beds.

"What happened to her?" Saitou asked.

"She was found unconscious, and with several contusions – mostly on her legs and hands, and has lost a lot of blood. I did my best at the scene to dress the wounds, but if she doesn't get some blood soon..." Hatori let the sentence trail off.

Saitou nodded and the pair quickly got to work on the girl. In no time they had her hooked up to a couple of intravenous drips. One to replace the blood that she'd lost and another to give her some medication to dull the pain she'd undoubtedly feel after waking up. Once they were in place, the doctors began to sterilize and re-dress her wounds, giving her stitches whenever they were required. Other than a couple stitches to the palm of her right hand, the majority of the work went into stitching up her leg where the cuts were the deepest.

Just as the doctors were wrapping up the last of her wounds, Tohru showed signs of waking up. The doctors quickly gave her an initial assessment to test her motor reflexes, and after they started questioning her about what had happened. Much like the last time she'd been hospitalized, she wasn't much help with filling in the blanks and was unable to tell them anything at all really, other than the fact that she could remember nothing about what happened to her, or even who she was.

Not fully believing what he was hearing, Saitou attempted to question her several more times. After a while, he gave up and pulled Hatori aside. "Has she shown any signs of depression since last week?"

"I'm not sure," Hatori said truthfully. She hadn't seemed depressed when he picked her up earlier that day, but he probably wasn't the best person to be asking, so he told the other man the truth. "I haven't seen her since she was last here, not counting today of course."

"Well, as you know," Saitou began, "last time she was suffering from cuts and an unexplained amnesia - just like today, though this time was different. I'm sure you noticed that the cuts on her leg didn't get there by any kind of accident. I'm guessing she cut herself, and since she's playing the amnesia card again, it's really making me doubt on whether or not she actually lost her memory last time too."

Hatori just nodded, not really sure of what to say. He couldn't just come out and tell him how he knew that she wasn't faking it, so he kept his mouth shut. Saitou's theory wasn't so bad anyway. It was better than letting them all know about Akito and his 'games' – not that he could ever tell them about that anyway.

"We'll run some more brain scans, but I'm guessing like last time, they'll all come up clear." Saitou hushed his voice slightly so that only Hatori was able to hear the next part. "She's probably ashamed to tell us that she did this herself, so she's faking the memory loss. She knows how much attention that got her last time, so I'm guessing that's why she's claiming it again."

Hatori thought for a moment. "That doesn't sound like Tohru."

"I agree, but there's no other explanation," Saitou said with a sigh. "Anyway, because of the questionable circumstances surrounding her cuts, and the amount of blood loss she's suffered, I'm going to have to classify this as a suicide attempt until there is anyway to prove different. She'll be put on suicide watch for the next 72 hours, and then moved to the psychiatric ward for further assessment. After a few therapy sessions, if she proves to be mentally stable enough to leave, then we'll release her."

Hatori nodded as he wondered how and what he would tell Yuki. The truth? Sure he owed him that much, but just how much of the truth did his younger cousin need to know? Looking back to the other doctor, Hatori thanked him and told him he'd be back a bit later to check in on her condition.

The doctors both gave a short bow and then Hatori went off in search of his cousin.


	17. Explanations, Anger & Feeling Powerless

Once Hatori spotted Yuki sitting in the waiting area, he noticed that the younger man was no longer alone. Beside him sat Shigure, his face buried in his hands and Kyo, staring at some unknown spot in the wall.

Yuki was the first of the three to see Hatori enter the room and was up and out of his seat in no time, rushing over to the doctor to learn how his friend was doing.

"Tohru... how... how is she?" Yuki fumbled over his words, having trouble stringing together the simplest of phrases. By the time he did manage to get the question out, Shigure and Kyo had gathered around the doctor looking for answers of their own.

"Let's sit over here and I'll tell you everything I know," Hatori said as he motioned toward a group of seats away from main hallway. The three then followed the doctor across the room before having a seat. They all feared what Hatori might say next, but prayed for it to be good news.

"She was hurt pretty bad, but she's awake and alert now." With that, a sigh of relief was heard among the listeners. "But once again, she has no memories..."

The doctor was going to continue, but Yuki cut him off mid sentence, tackling the doctor to the floor. "How could you?! Don't you think you've already done enough damage in the past week?"

Shigure and Kyo leapt into action almost immediately, each of them forcing a strong grip around one of the rat's arms. Somehow, they managed to pull him back onto his feet and off Hatori.

"There wasn't anything I could do," Hatori said trying to justify his actions as he got up from the ground. "My hands were tied on this... I'm sorry."

"Nothing was forcing you to do it again! Once was _more_ than effective as I recall." Yuki was glaring at the doctor just thinking about the last time he saw him steal her memories, all the while trying to shake free from the hands that held him back.

"You know more than anyone, Yuki, that no one can go against Akito's orders, no matter how much we dislike them. And he was very clear about what he wanted me to do."

"Why would he even care? She doesn't even remember her own life, let alone anything about ours!" Yuki was both furious and confused as to his God's motives.

"She might not have remembered all of us," Hatori explained, "but Akito certainly hasn't forgotten about her. He's got it stuck in his mind that there's some score to settle between the two of them, and he seems ready to cash in on that, now more than ever."

"Akito did this?!" Yuki was quickly entering a blind rage. "How could you let this happen to her?!"

"Look!" Hatori yelled. "Calm down or you'll be forced to leave. Don't forget that this is a hospital! Remember why were are here."

Yuki shook with anger, but was forcing himself to calm down. Hatori was right, he needed to remain calm if he was ever going to help Tohru get past all this. After a few moments, when he'd calmed himself enough to think straight, the other's let him go and then they all sat back down.

"Forget Akito for the time being," Hatori suggested. "You have more important things to worry about – like the girl that's going to be needing a lot of support to get through this."

Yuki just nodded, as the other's listened on. "So what can we do to help?" The rat asked.

"Nothing right now. She's been labeled as a suicide case, so they won't be letting her have any visitors, other than immediate family members, for the next few days."

"Wait, what?" Kyo questioned.

"Suicide?" Yuki finished the question that was on all of their minds. "How could her being attacked be seen as a suicide attempt?"

"Well, Akito did a real number on her today. Cut her pretty badly, which caused severe blood loss. I obviously couldn't tell them what really happened, and that's the conclusion that they decided on."

"Couldn't you have just made something up? I mean, blame it on the creep that hurt her the last time? Say he came back? Anything?" Kyo wasn't sure what to think, but he figured blaming anyone else would be better than blaming her for what happened. She just wasn't like that.

Without skipping a beat, Hatori added, "Does it really matter what the doctor's believe? She's here and getting treatment. That's good enough for me."

"Yeah, you'd be the one to think that's good enough..." Kyo muttered under his breath.

"So, when can we see her?" Yuki asked.

"Not for another 72 hours."

"Three days?!" Yuki didn't like the sound of that, and by the looks of Shigure and Kyo's faces, neither did they.

"Yes, so I suggest you all go home and get some rest. I'll check on her later, and stop by your place later on tonight."

There was nothing for the others to do but agree with the doctor, and knowing that made them all feel a sense of dread, mixed with the overwhelming feeling of being completely powerless over the situation.


	18. Hatori's Inner Torment, Facing Akito

Hatori watched as Shigure left the hospital's parking lot. Then he made his way to his own vehicle that was parked nearby. He still had several things to do before the day was finished and it was already getting very late. He knew that he couldn't keep Akito waiting anymore than he'd already waited, so he decided that his first priority would be his nightly checkup of his family's head.

Akito was already in a foul mood once Hatori arrived and started shouting at the doctor almost immediately.

"How dare you spend so much time with that useless wench!" Akito began. "Your job was merely to get rid of her and then return to me! I'm in no condition to be waiting all night for you to possibly show up."

"I came as fast as I could," Hatori said. "I had a lot of explaining to do at the hospital. It's not like you gave me much of a choice in the matter."

"Then next time you'll just let her die!"

"There isn't going to be a next time!" Hatori had almost reached his breaking point and knew he'd have to do something now, before it was too late.

"Do you dare go against the word of your God?"

"I won't let you hurt her again." Hatori tried to sound forceful in his conviction, but inside he was terrified. He had never gone against the head of the family before, and his mind was filling with the memories of the time Akito had nearly blinded him.

"Either you bring her to me or everyone in the zodiac will suffer on her behalf." Akito's lips twisted up into a smile.

Hatori knew that he'd be punished for his actions, but he never once thought about the rest of the zodiac also being punished. He was torn over what to do - sacrifice one innocent girl to whatever torture Akito dreamed up this time or sacrifice the thirteen members of the zodiac in her place?

He knew how some would feel about it. Yuki and Kyo would lay their lives on the line to keep Tohru from harm, while Shigure probably wouldn't care one way or the other. Hell, he'd probably want her spared only because his 'punishments' weren't like the rest. Then he'd get more of his _quality _time with Akito that he seemed to enjoy so much.

Then there were also the younger ones to consider. He couldn't let Kisa and Hiro get hurt again – they were still only children.

There was no way he could decide something like this. With frustration taking over, he let out a scream and punched a hole in the wall beside him.

Akito smirked enjoying the mental anguish that he forced on the other man. He thought that this method might prove to be more effective than another physical beating, and from the looks of it, he was right.

Enjoying the reaction his efforts were giving him, Akito chose his next words carefully. "You know Tohru could never live with herself knowing that all the pain and suffering of so many people would be her fault." He stopped for a moment and smiled. "And trust me – I'd be sure to let her know just who the blame falls upon. Before long she'd be begging for me to take her in their place. Better yet, she'll probably feel so bad about it all, that she might just kill herself. Not that anyone would think anything of it... not after they've read her medical chart anyway." Akito tossed a stack of papers towards the doctor, while laughing manically.

Somehow he'd already gotten a hold of the girl's hospital records and this last straw broke Hatori's heart. It was his fault the records said what they did, and it was his fault that Akito had the chance to send her to the hospital in the first place. Condemn an already broken girl to death, or unleash a greater suffering on those he cared about. "I can't do it!" He cried out. "You can't ask me to decide something like that!"

Akito's laugher abruptly ended as he narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't asking. One worthless wench or the entire zodiac?"

Hatori dropped to his knees and held his head in his hands. He just couldn't take it anymore. This wasn't a choice... it was a punishment - his punishment - and he knew he deserved it. He closed his eyes in resignation.

Seeing this, Akito crouched down to the other man's level and leaned in towards his ear. In a quiet voice he whispered, "Then they'll all suffer... Starting with that little witch of a girl."

Just then, something snapped in Hatori's mind. Akito had completely gone off the deep end and now something needed to be done. Sure, his "God" had never truly been in the right frame of mind at any point before today, but now things were different.

Before now, he had never been so fixated on hurting someone that the very thought of it had consumed his entire being. He'd always hurt others to pass the time, or to relieve his pain or stress, but now he was just doing it for his own twisted pleasure. The man had left behind any shred of humanity that he may have once had and exchanged it for an evilness only the Devil could rival.

Hatori wasn't quite sure how it all would all turn out, but he knew he had to try. He reached out and grabbed Akito who just looked at him defiantly.

"Do you really think someone as useless as you can stop me?" Akito didn't even try to free himself from the larger man's grasp. "You're nothing! Worthless! Leave before _I_ do something _you'll_ regret."

Though the words stung, they didn't deter Hatori from the task at hand. Using his larger stature to his advantage, he was able to force the family head to the ground rather easily. All there was left to do now was erase his memories of the last few months. If he could just forget about the girl, then he should revert back to the more manageable monster that he used to be.

Hatori reached out his hand to do what he'd been doing so often lately, but nothing happened. No flash, no power... nothing. He didn't even feel that familiar tingle that would flow through his fingers.

The doctor knew something for certain now and he dreaded the very thought of it. This man really was God after all and his power was absolute. Akito could not be stopped.

Hatori was in a state of shock that he had lost. He knew what he'd attempted was a long shot, but he really believed that it was going to work. He stumbled off the other man, and towards the door. He had defied his only God and wasn't ready to reap the punishment he knew he had coming to him. Much smaller things had blown the man's fuse, but something of this scale was just unheard of.


	19. Watching Over Tohru's Treatment

Being a doctor, Hatori was the only Sohma that was able to check up on Tohru during her days of isolation in the psych ward. Though he felt extremely guilty, and knew things wouldn't be resolved from his frequent visits to the girl, he still stopped by several times a day to check on her condition.

Half of the visits he justified as some form of obligation, due the part he played leading up to her stay in the hospital, while the other half of the visits became just another way to avoid Akito.

He hadn't been in to see the head of the family since the failed memory suppression, and he really didn't want to return. Though he knew he'd have to go back sooner rather than later, he still couldn't bring himself to face the other man. Not this soon afterwards, anyway.

Luckily however, Akito was rather healthy during his last visit, so he should be able to stay away without putting the other man in danger. Not physical danger at least, because though he knew his body was in no immediate danger, he wasn't so sure about the other man's mental state. That, he guessed was probably growing worse by every passing second that he remained alone. He just prayed that no one planned to visit the family head in the mean time.

Approaching the room where Tohru was recovering, Hatori told himself that this visit would be his last. Shortly, she would be allowed visitors again, and by then, there would be no more need for him to check up on the girl. She'd be in the good company of her friends and family by that point, and Hatori had promised himself that once that time had come, he would own up to his actions and return home to Akito.

Glancing through the small glass window in the door, he could see that Tohru was not alone. There was another doctor sitting in the room next to her, with a clipboard in hand, taking notes. He'd seen the doctor before, but he'd never really talked to her about anything except work related matters.

With the door slightly ajar, he was able to make out what the two were saying. He stood by the door and silently listened.

"Just admit what you've done, and we can move past it all..." He heard the other doctor say reassuringly.

"I honestly don't remember anything," Tohru said, staring down at her hands. "Nothing about myself, or what happened to me."

"Look, we know the amnesia isn't real," the doctor continued. "So you don't have to pretend."

Tohru just remained silent, so the female doctor tried another approach. "We don't care that you've lied, all we care about is that you get better. It can help to talk about things. That's why we're here. For you to tell me what has been bothering you, so we can move past it and get you well again."

From his vantage point in the nearly deserted hallway, Hatori could see the tears starting to fall down the younger woman's cheeks. Shortly after, she started sobbing uncontrollably.

The doctor leaned in and wrapped the crying Tohru in her arms. "Shh... It's okay, we don't have to talk about it yet. We'll wait until you're ready. Just try and rest for now."

Hatori quietly slipped away as the other doctor got up to leave. As he was walking away, he silently wondered to himself what made that girl different from everyone else. He'd never had a problem with his memory suppression before, and he couldn't explain how things could have gone so terribly wrong with her, when no one else had suffered the same fate.

It was unheard of for his memory suppression to wipe a mind clean. Much like it was unheard of for the suppression to not work at all, as was the case with Akito. He justified Akito's failure by the fact that he was a 'special' kind of being. He'd never tried it on another member of the zodiac before, but it would make sense that they'd be immune to the effects. Same should apply to their God, he figured.

But then, by that reasoning he also figured that there must be something special about Tohru. Hatori thought there must be a reason why she was different, but he just couldn't figure out what that reason might be. He thought that maybe if he knew the reason, he might also learn just why Akito was so fascinated with the girl.

Whatever the case may be, it was time to face the music and return home. The time had finally come for him to receive whatever punishment Akito may have thought up. With all the time he'd been left alone to think in the past couple of days, he knew it wouldn't be good.


	20. The Great Escape of the Shattered Mind

Today marked the day that Tohru was again allowed to have visitors. Though it made her happy knowing she would no longer be alone, she was feeling anxious wondering if she'd remember the people she was about to meet. Her lonely days of anticipation finally came to an end as she heard a knock at her hospital room door.

Slowly the door opened and a man peeked around the corner, his eyes searching deeper into the room. Upon seeing an unsure smile come to Tohru's face, he stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him.

"Hi," said Tohru, walking over to her guest. She had to admit, seeing someone that wasn't a doctor was a pleasant change. She wasn't sure who was visiting her, but she was more than ready to find out.

"You can drop the act," the man said venomously. He gave her a shove, pushing her farther back into the room. "I know what you're up to."

"What?" Tohru was still trying to figure out what was going on. This wasn't making any sense. She didn't know who this man was or what he was talking about, but the look in his eyes terrified her half to death. Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared at him, unable to move.

"Just keep your mouth shut around everyone else and I won't have to hurt you."

"Hurt me? I don't understand," she said between sobs. "I don't even know who you are." Her legs were beginning to shake and felt as if they would give out beneath her.

"I read your file," the man said with a smirk. "Just one of the benefits to having connections at the police department. Though I've got to admit, it was the second bout of _amnesia_ that gave you away. Then again, who would ever admit to cutting themselves so much and nearly bled to death? It's a shame no one believes you, however. Even the doctors agree that you're a liar. Was playing the injured patient so much fun that you'd go this far for more attention? Whatever, it's not like I really care what happens to you. Just don't do anything stupid like tell anyone anything, and I'll keep up my end of the bargain."

He stepped forward, closing the distance between them. Leaning over to whisper in her ear, he said, "I'll see you later... that is of course, if they ever let you leave. Oh, and this is for you. I thought it might come in handy." He handed over a package and was out the door before she could even comprehend what had just happened.

Confused and frightened, Tohru stumbled her way into the chair by the window. Opening the small brown bag she had been given, she gasped as she glimpsed the shine from a very sharp looking silver blade. Reaching her hand in, so as not to touch the knife, she picked out a folded piece of paper that was also in the bag.

_Next time, cut deeper._

It may have only been four words, but they sent a chill up her spine. 'Am I really crazy? Is everyone right? Did I do this to myself? Who was he? Why did he give me a knife? Why can't I remember anything?' The questions were starting to fill her mind faster than she was able to answer them. She tightened her grip on the bag and the note and quickly got to her feet. She needed to get out and it had to be now.

She opened the door slightly to see if anyone was around. Grateful that she saw no one, she quickly made her way to the end of the hall and away from the watchful eyes of the hospital staff. Though she needed to dodge a few people on her way out of the building, she did manage to make it out without anyone stopping her. Once outside, she ran at full speed away from the dreaded building and the horrible memories that were starting to build up in there.

Without really knowing where to go, she quickly weaved her way between the tables and chairs that were scattered in front of the main entrance. She figured for starters, she would aim for the back of the building, where she could come up with a plan away from the prying eyes of those that were starting to watch her.

_Poof!_ As she darted around the corner, she ran into something hard, sending her backwards onto the ground. There was the brief flash of a young boy, followed by a thick cloud of smoke. From her vantage point on the ground, she could see the outline of a small rabbit coming into focus as the smoke slowly cleared.

"Everyone was right," she mumbled to herself. "I really am crazy." The words 'if they ever let you leave' echoed in her mind. People don't turn into rabbits and the ones that witness such a scene can't just leave the hospital, they get committed – for life – because they are crazy. Certifiably insane.

Momiji wasn't sure what to make of the situation. He knew that Hatori had erased her memories and that he was to stay away from her from now on. The doctor hadn't gone into specifics, but he seemed serious when he said it, so the younger Sohma had tried to obey. Obviously it hadn't worked, for now he stood in his rabbit form watching as the frantic girl darted away from him and ran down the street.

He wanted to go after her, but he figured it would be best for Tohru if he stayed behind. In the very least, he thought he shouldn't go after her while still in his animal form. She already looked broken and he feared things could get much worse by trying to explain the whole zodiac situation to her in her current frame of mind.

No longer able to see the fleeing Tohru, he turned back to notice a small brown bag on the ground near where the two had collided. Gently hopping over, he nudged the bag with his paw. Just then, he transformed into his human self, so he left the bag and quickly got dressed.

Refocusing his attention, he picked up the bag in one hand and the crumpled paper in the other. He used his hands to flatten out the sheet of paper. He read the note and with confusion, looked into the bag. Quickly, a wave of nausea crashed over him as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on.

After a short pause, he knew he had to find Yuki. He was sure his cousin would know what to do. He also figured that since Hatori had let him visit Tohru, that he'd probably have a better idea about what was going on. Something was definitely wrong and someone needed to do something about it and soon, otherwise something bad would most definitely happen.


	21. You Do Know Me, You Just Don't Remember

After Momiji had reenacted the frantic scene from the hospital, Yuki dropped everything and took off in a mad dash. It took him over an hour of searching through far too many streets before finally finding the distraught girl. Even now that he had, he wasn't sure of what to do. She wouldn't even know him. They hadn't been able to see each other at all since her memories had been erased for the second time – which meant that to her, he'd be no more than a stranger.

He continued to follow her for quite some time, trying to figure out just the right words to say. He really should have thought about all this as he searched, but the only thing that had been on his mind at the time was finding Tohru. Back then, nothing else mattered but making sure she was safe.

At least keeping up with her wasn't going to be a problem. She had stopped running sometime before he'd found her and was now walking slowly through the streets. He watched as she wavered from side to side with each step she took. Though he couldn't see her face, he suspected that she was probably in a daze – locked somewhere within her fragile mind.

After spending some time watching her from behind, he was more than certain that she was oblivious to everything surrounding her. Unfortunately, this also included the road full of speeding cars that she had just stepped onto.

Yuki dashed forward, quickly grabbing her arm. As he pulled her off the road, an angry motorist jammed on his brakes and yelled obscenities at the pair. Neither paid any attention – one noticed nothing at all, while the other was focused completely on the girl.

"Tohru, we need to talk."

Her expression showed no signs that she'd so much as heard him and the vacant expression that she wore never once left her face. Without releasing his grip, Yuki gently pulled at her arm and mechanically, Tohru began to walk.

"I know you don't know me..." Yuki began, leading her further down the street. "Well, you _do_ know me, you just don't remember. But there's a lot we have to talk about." Since she showed no interest in listening, Yuki decided the talk could wait until later.

Several streets down the road, Tohru realized that she was no longer alone. What was going on? Who was this and where was he taking her? Panicking, she pulled back her arm and held it to her chest. A moment later, she was on the run.

Though she ran off in the opposite direction, Yuki stopped her before she had gotten very far. "You're safe now," he told her. He spun her around to face him and grabbed solidly onto both of her forearms. He didn't want to frighten her, but he also didn't want her running away like before.

"You're going to be fine, but there's a lot that we need to talk about. So just trust me for a little while, okay?"

Tohru didn't know why, but she believed him. Though there was no way to be sure, she felt that she knew him and he seemed to be telling the truth. She nodded her head and awaited an explanation.

"I'll tell you everything, but first there's someplace I'd like to take you, okay?"

Again she nodded and Yuki slowly released his hold on her. He carefully watched for her reaction, hoping he'd gained enough of her trust. Though he was prepared to chase after her again should the need arise, he never had to. Silently but cautiously, she followed him through the streets and all the way back to Shigure's.


End file.
